Episode with a Chinese Taxi Driver
Posted on March 13, 2008
Filed Under Friends and Strangers | 6 Comments
I am sooo mad at the taxi driver who just conned me. How? It was like this.
After my German Lesson yesterday, I decided to go to Walmart to buy some groceries. It was a nice weather. I thought I might need some fresh air after the stressful lesson so instead asking one of the subdivision’s security guards to get me a taxi, I cheerfully walk out of the subdivision and hailed a taxi myself.
When I got in, the cab driver murmured something in Chinese and I assume (my Chinese is bad) that he was asking where to take me so I said “Woh-eu-mah” while trying so hard to get the right tone and while trying so hard to ignore the awful smell that is filling the entire cab. I thought he understood because he started to drive but at some point, he started to make a turn towards the wrong direction so I tapped his shoulder and said “yi-zhi-dou” (straight ahead). He probably thought I have no idea where Walmart is and that he can just drive me around and ask for a hefty fare later.
So anyway, he followed what I said and just drove straight ahead. It’s a two minute taxi ride from our subdivision to Walmart so for sure, the taxi fare will not be over the minimum fare—5RMB. When we got there, I handled him a 100RMB bill because I don’t have smaller bills. He took it gave me the 95RMB change. I took it from him and put it in my pocket. When I was about to go out of the cab, he stopped me. Then he uttered something in Chinese while he was handling a 100RMB bill over to me. For a second, I was confused but I understood him the moment he said “bu hao” (not good) referring to the 100RMB bill. I looked at the bill and was 100% sure it was not from me. I gave him a crisp 100RMB bill. I showed him my other 100RMB bills which still have successive serial numbers, compared these to what he was giving me and the serials are completely far from the ones I have. At some point he gave up and he let me go.
To cut the story short, I went in the Walmart, took all what I need, and went to the cashier. The cash register showed a 233RMB bill for everything, I gave the cashier two 100RMB bills and 50RMB bill from the change I got from the cab driver. And here is where it makes my blood boil and rush to my head. When the cashier ran the bills through the fake detector device, we found out that the 50RMB bill is a fake! Fuck*** * Chinese driver! I mean really, Philippines has its share of annoying taxi drivers as well but here in China some are just plain evil! They don’t only stink…some of them con you as well in their stinky and falling apart cabs.
I won’t say they are stupid (although a lot of people have that opinion), they are not but they can play stupid whenever they think they’ll get the better end of the situation if the person they’re dealing with will just conclude that they are very stupid.
I’ve got a lot of awful experiences in taking taxi cabs here in China but until now I held my fingers from writing about them because I don’t want to offend anybody. I live in this country for more than two years now and I can honestly say that I like it here but there are just some things I can’t stomach! Like a stinky taxi driver in his stinky taxi cab conning you while gagging you with an utterly awful smell!
I would like to use all those strong foul words to refer to the driver but because of my kind nature (ehem!), I wont.
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6 Responses to “Episode with a Chinese Taxi Driver”
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[...] Interesting read: Episode with a Chinese Taxi Driver [...]
Ohh. That’s awful! My friend who stayed in Shanghai for 2 years told me about the rampant circulation of fake bills there! Tsk tsk. I guess one has to be extra careful in China to avoid being conned by the deceitful Chinese cab drivers.
Btw, how did you find my site? Thanks for the trackback! I just linked you on my Manila cab drivers post.
Ingat-ingat dyan sa China…
[...] fakery. You’ll find just about anything from Old Navy to Chanel. But be careful because they also fake money here. Check the money they give you (change from taxi drivers and vendors) if these are real bank [...]
[...] you want to read the whole story how I got a fake 50RMB, read it here. Now if you are in China and you clicked that link, you will most likely NOT be able to view it [...]
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get ur own car i did. I cant stand how they dirve break every law and no regard for ur safety get a car urself and u can sell it for about 10-15% less that u paid its weird how 2nd hand cars dont lose their value as fast